The Flywheel

This Week's Program: June 19, 2009

The Momentum of Flywheels

From its beginnings as a weekly newsletter mailed to our members,
to a digital file to be downloaded for printing at home, to
its present incarnation—you're looking at it—the
Flywheel has been in continuous motion.

Now its current publisher, Nick Despota, asks "Who's
using the Flywheel and for what purposes? Can we make it more
useful? "

Come and help answer those questions.

Last week's MEETING: June 12th, 2009

Welcome, Invocation, Thought for the Day

Outgoing President Mark Howe rang the bell
and called the meeting to order. Eric Gavidia led
the pledge of allegiance. In keeping with the more fluid meeting
mode for today’s proceedings (although we’re rarely
not into fluidity), there were several thoughts for the day. Sid
Chauvin reminded us that “We can’t control
the wind but we can adjust our sails.” Josh Genser,
still full of himself over that big rainbow trout catch, told
the one about the one-armed fisherman who raised his hand high
in the air and said he “caught one this big!” Hank
Covell, freshly back from leisure time in Mexico,
rediscovered the old saw that goes something like this: give
a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day but teach him how
to fish and he’ll sit in a boat and drink beer all day.

Rotarians with Guests

Charlie Wong introduced Jean, his wife
of 60 years.

Elof Granberg introduced his significant
other, Betty. Having missed last week’s meeting when
D-Day was remembered, Elof was asked if he had any comments
about his own experience on the beach that day in France
65 years ago. He said simply, “I was scared as hell!”

Werner Schwarz brought his wife, Leah,
who had to introduce herself when Werner forgot to after
acknowledging Charlie and Elof being with us. (But she and
we forgave him.)

Henry Kelman introduced his wife, Kathleen.

David Brown introduced his wife and former
law partner, Cheryl Black.

Eric Gavidia introduced his friend, Heidi
Hanna.

Nick Despota introduced his wife, Nel.

Announcements

On behalf of April Jorden, who couldn’t
attend the meeting, Jan Brown passed around
hand-written thank-you notes from Peres elementary school
kids who wanted to express appreciation to Richmond Rotary
for its support of the recent science project and related
Camp.

John Nicol stood up to express sincere
congratulations to Mark Howe for a job well
done as President this year. Mark seemed to stammer a bit
in surprise but gratefully acknowledged John’s remarks.

Before things got too raucous, Markexpressed
a few heartfelt thoughts about his past year as Club President,
saying that he enjoyed it a lot, believed good things were
accomplished (for example, the Rotary Peace Project), and
sensed that he tapped into similar passions held by others,
to which Stoney good-naturedly quipped, “People
lie!” Suddenly, there was a feeling in the air: will
there be no mercy for the outgoing President at today’s
meeting?!

Happy and Sad Dollars

Josh Genser was happy about his daughter
graduating from high school this year and also about the
small-plane flying experience with Mechanics Bank CEO, Steve
Buster (a Rotary December auction item).

Jim Young offered some happy dollars for
the pleasure of providing Mark Howe with a poster-size replica
of a 1993 gun-violence-prevention ad (“Choose Life”)
that Jim had a role in getting into the West County Times
last decade. Jim thanked Mark for his leadership with the
Richmond Rotary Peace Project.

Horace (Stoney) Stonework had happy dollars
because he was attending the Giants-A’s game that night.
He was a bit nostalgic as he reflected on his 51 consecutive
years of going to baseball games. He then gave everyone this
factoid guaranteed to win any trivial-pursuit bar challenge
(although no one present admitted to ever going to bars):
Larry Doby was the second black baseball player to join the
major leagues after Jackie Robinson. Doby joined the Cleveland
Indians in July 1947, just 11 weeks after Jackie joined the
Brooklyn Dodgers and one year before Stoney went to his first
baseball game (it’s the last part that will likely
stump the bar crowd).

Erle Brown offered some sad dollars because
Obama’s policies have apparently led Erle’s wife
to cut his allowance by 15%.

Jon Lawlis had happy dollars for an awesome
T-shirt made for his son and a group of buddies. With design
elements by Laura Kuhn, the shirt proclaims “Team
Beer Belly” and “Drive Hard & Drink Harder”.

Rafael Madrigal was happy to have served
on the Rotary Board with Mark.

Henry Kelman had happy dollars for a young
person who is graduating from high school this week, an event
that was at least in part enabled by Richmond Rotary emergency
blood donations 18 years ago. (If Henry mentioned it, the
Scribe missed the young person’s name.)

Glenn Daggs also had happy dollars for
a fun year on the Richmond Rotary Board.

Norm’s Nonsense

An Italian astronaut told a friend of his that the Italians
were planning a space voyage.
Friend: "That's great, are you going to Mars?" -
Astronaut: "No, we're going to the sun." -
Friend: "You can't go to the sun, you'll burn up." -
Astronaut: "No problem. We're going at night."

THE PROGRAM

Trial of the Century! Heinous charges. Unanimous verdict.

Even as slight attempts were made not to make a mockery of
the justice system, Mark Howe was issued a
more-or-less arrest warrant by officer Enos Johnson and
brought forward in a mock trial before the assembled Richmond
Rotary Club. After all, Mark is the outgoing Club President
and he just can’t get off scot-free. That wouldn’t
be, well, Rotarian-like. (Are you paying close attention, Glenn
Daggs?)

Guitarist Joe Bagley set the tone with a
somber but excellent rendering of, “I Fought the Law
and the Law Won”. Joe later did a rendition with customized-for-the-occasion
words as the meeting was being adjourned.

With wig-and-shades-wearing Judge David Brown presiding,
prosecutor Pam Jones presented a leak-tight
case while defense attorney Josh Genser tried
admirably to come up with something defensive. Even Mickey
Mouse (aka Rafael Madrigal), who was called
by the defense as a character witness, turned out to be nothing
more than a cartoon character.

As the overwhelming evidence made clear, Mark Howe has been
from an early age one of those people who push the boundaries.
Imagine the behind-the-scenes maneuverings that it took for
him to get top-center positioning in his third-grade class
picture. Prosecutor Pam pointed to this as an indisputable
example of early psychopathological behavior.

Wrapped in legal jargon, the charges against Mark included
distribution of “charitable” wine, conspiratorial
cannabis-related violations, purchase of an assault weapon
for conversion into a flower vase, and other dubious deeds
which aren’t necessarily against the law (yet).

When all was said and done, the verdict was unanimous. Mark
was found guilty not only of the enumerated charges but also
of doing a great job as Club President over the past year when
he initiated and/or supported various worthwhile projects including,
but not limited to, the Richmond Rotary Peace Garden, the children’s
AutoSkill computer-based learning program at the Nevin Center,
the young adult Positive Minds Group also at the Nevin Center,
the Peace Rug curriculum at Chavez elementary school, and the
Winehaven Halloween fundraiser.

Being seen as a flight risk, Mark was sentenced and banished
for 30 days or so to the isle of Margarita off the coast of
Venezuela, which seems to fit well with his upcoming sailboat
travel plans. Bon voyage, Mark, and thanks for your Club service
over the past year!

The active Club President Pin was given by Mark to incoming
President, Glenn Daggs, while Jon
Lawlis gave Mark his Past-President Pin and his special
Ex-President Badge.

A fun time was had by all!

Pam Jones (doing double
duty as prosecuting attorney and photographer) and Jon Lawlis
recorded the evidentiary photographs. A few of them appear
above. And for archival purposes, Jon also made a few more
photos available online.

- Rotating Scribe, Tom Waller

Upcoming Programs

June 26
We memorize it at an early age and repeat it at public
gatherings. But few of us know the real story behind “The
Pledge of Allegiance”. Shelley Lapkoff, MA and
Ph.D. from UC Berkeley provides a well-researched glimpse
of history through the lens of this enshrined sentence.

July 3
Club dark

Have a suggestion for a speaker?
Please pass along the name and contact information
to Jim Young.